Broaster Bandido

If you’re looking for the Barcelona of the postcards—the one with the Gaudí curves and the white-tablecloth seafood joints where they charge you for the breeze—you’ve taken the wrong turn. Broaster Bandido is located in Nou Barris, a neighborhood that doesn’t give a damn about your Instagram feed. This is where the city actually lives, works, and, most importantly, eats when nobody is looking. It’s a trek, sure. But for anyone who understands that the best things in life are often found at the end of a long metro line and inside a paper bucket, it’s a pilgrimage worth making.

Walking into Broaster Bandido, you aren't greeted by a host with a headset. You’re greeted by the visceral, unmistakable hiss of a pressure fryer and the scent of spices that have more in common with Bogotá than Barcelona. This is a temple to the 'Broaster' technique—a Colombian obsession that takes fried chicken and turns it into something structural. It’s not just fried; it’s pressure-fried, a process that locks the moisture into the bird while creating a crust so shatteringly crisp it should come with a structural integrity warning.

The menu is a no-nonsense manifesto of Colombian comfort. The star, obviously, is the pollo broaster. It arrives golden, craggy, and glistening, seasoned with a proprietary blend of spices that hits the back of your throat with a savory punch. This is arguably the best fried chicken in Barcelona, and it doesn't need a marketing team to tell you that; the 4.9 rating from the locals who eat here every week does the talking. Then there are the salchipapas—a glorious, unapologetic pile of fries and sliced sausages that serves as the ultimate middle finger to the concept of a light lunch. It’s heavy, it’s salty, and it’s exactly what you want at 9:00 PM on a Tuesday.

What makes this place special isn't just the grease; it’s the honesty. In a city increasingly hollowed out by tourist menus, Broaster Bandido is a holdout of authenticity. The 'Bandido Burger' is a towering construction that defies the laws of physics, and the empanadas are the real deal—cornmeal crusts housing fillings that actually taste like something. You wash it all down with a jugo natural or a Postobón, sitting among families and neighborhood regulars who know that luxury isn't about the price tag, but about how much soul is in the kitchen.

Let’s be clear: this is one of the best cheap eats Barcelona has to offer, but it’s not for the faint of heart or the calorie-counters. The service is friendly in that direct, neighborhood way—they want you to eat, they want you to enjoy it, and they want to get the next bird in the fryer. There are no foams here. No 'spheres' of anything. Just heat, oil, salt, and chicken. It’s the kind of place that reminds you why we travel in the first place: to find the spots that haven't been sanitized for the masses. If you’re willing to leave the city center behind, Broaster Bandido will reward you with a meal that feels like a secret shared between friends. It’s raw, it’s real, and it’s damn delicious.